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I have created an App at helpathome.me which isolated people can use to fill out a form and request help from others. I innocently thought this would be fine but a friend told me that I must comply to GDPR rules and that when it goes live it shows information directly to the public which could be used inappropriately. Further more he said that if some not so nice person was to use the data of somebody asking for help and then go to their house and commit some type of crime then I would be liable because I provided the facility for them to meet. I really want to role this out in my local area (maybe larger area if I have the resources to manage it) but before I do I want to make sure I'm not setting myself up for some nasty legal issues. I would also like any recommendations as to what I can do if anything to the app to make it more secure and compliant) Thanks . I am in the UK | would |
It's been mentioned in another answer that In COVID-19, The University of Padua, Veneto Region and the Red Cross tested the population of Vò, Italy, 3300 people, to establish the natural history of the virus, the transmission dynamics and categories of risk. " they found >50 of those who tested positive to be asymptomatic” according to Professor Sergio Romagnani. I'm aware that a Covid-19 prevalence study on the [entire population of the] Diamond Princess ship (3,711 passengers and crew) has been published in Eurosurveillance. Has this comparable (in size) study on an entire Italian town been published somewhere? (I see a later issue of Eurosurveillance has a larger study on Lombardy, but it doesn't mention Vò specifically. Also, this latter issue has a 2nd study on the Diamond Princess.) | virus |
North Korea has closed its border to foreign tourists due to the new coronavirus. I had a tour booked in March, I have been told I will get my deposit back from the tour company if the border is not reopened in time. But I had flights to Beijing, a Chinese visa paid for, Chinese hotels booked. I only booked all these for my tour to North Korea, as that is one of the only ways to enter, do you think there's a case for a claim for my whole trip if North Korea doesn't reopen its borders by my tour? I don't want to really just go to China, if I can claim my flights and hotels in China back I'd rather postpone the whole trip, plus I'd have to get extra hotels and activities planned for the time I would have been in North Korea. I'm not really asking for legal advice, just wondered in general, if any country closes its border, is it valid for an insurance claim? | would |
Two years ago I had an irrigation system installed in my garden; now I'd like to expand it with a drip line. The man who installed the system left a tube specifically for this purpose, and today I unearthed it; the problem is that I don't know the name of the connector I need, and also I was unable to remove the cap that is closing the tube. I don't want to apply excessive force to avoid breaking the tube. I tried unscrewing the black part from the blue one, turning the cap counterclockwise. Is this the right way to do it? Is the cap simply stuck since it was buried for two years? Do I need special tools or would a couple of wrenches do the trick? (Note: the tube isn't under pressure, there's a valve on the other end.) Also, shops are closed due to Covid-19 (I'm in Italy); what kind of conector should I search for on Amazon? | would |
In search for any possible new treatments for COVID-19, I am of the understanding that the SARS-nCoV-2 virus may suffer deterioration at high temperatures and high humidity, to perhaps weaken it sufficiently for your immune system to be able to handle it. Is there any research done on artificially inducing a (let's say) 40°C fever, in a controlled manner, such that brain function will not be endangered? (Are there any fundamental biological functions that would prevent this possibility?) Possibly Related Questions: Should we induce fever to assist healing? How does fever physically work? Paper shows 2 hours of high humidity and hot temperatures kills corona virus, does this stop the spread of the virus? What are the environmental conditions for 2019-nCoV to survive? References: [1] https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/surgery/hyperthermia-fact-sheet [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperthermia_therapy [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoregulation [4] Janeways Immunobiology (book) | virus |
This is the BLAST tree of the latest coronavirus out of China. It seems strange that there is so much divergence from all the other coronaviruses. Is this expected of new diseases? | virus |
I have a language course booked in two weeks in Barcelona and would like to get there either by train or bus (due to 'flight shame') from Germany in times of the COVID-19 outbreak. Going by train would mean traveling via Cologne (Germany), Brussels, Paris (that makes me really afraid), on the return journey via Paris and Frankfurt Main (Germany). However, there is also a Flixbus directly going to Barcelona from Frankfurt. Though I already booked the train tickets via Paris, I could stil get a refund and thereby get most of the money back. :-) So what would you say, is it safer to travel by bus rather than by train? However, I was also wondering whether trains aren't equally safe as buses, since I could just stand all the time in a TGV in the floor or just sit on my luggage where there aren't so many people? | virus |
In the current situation, many people will have to cancel existing flight or hotel bookings, and would like to get a refund. In which cases can one get a refund? | would |
My friend had a 15-days visa from France. His flight to Iran got canceled because of the coronavirus. After that, he came to Germany (Munich) because he had relatives here and went to the immigration office (KVR) to extend his visa. They told him that he can extend his visa but he should provide insurance. After providing insurance the immigration office got closed. He has sent several emails but he hasn't got any response yet. His visa is expired now and we are so worried about this issue. Is it possible for him to go back to Iran with an expired visa in this situation? The border police say that it's not possible and going back is an emergency now for him. Do you have any suggestions for this situation? | would |
I am a resident of Pennsylvania (I have a PA drivers license) and I do not have my passport. I am taking a flight from Ohio to California in March. Do I need my passport for this flight? (Or for the return flight) The REAL ID law is the issue. I know PA is late to the game in their real ID licenses, so there was supposedly a law that until we get those, we would need a passport to fly domestically. But I’ve also heard that the law was postponed so I’m not sure what the current status is. | would |
Screening doesn't work — BBC reports Coronavirus: Chinese embassy in Paris finds woman who 'cheated' checks The woman boasted on social media that she had been suffering from a fever, but managed to reduce her symptoms with medicine. She later posted pictures showing herself dining at what she claimed was a Michelin-starred restaurant in Lyon.The embassy has now confirmed that her symptoms are under control. >The woman left Wuhan - where the new coronavrius emerged late last year - before flights were suspended, but when thermal scanning was in place. 5) Airport screening after SARS didn’t catch a single case I don't believe Wuhan coronavirus: Travel bans for diseases like this don’t work - Vox. First, it just quotes past cases, but past performance doesn't predict future. Second, isn't obvious that lowering Wuhan people means lowering risk. I know banning China flights won't stop every case. | virus |
We all hear about the massive fluctuations of the stock market due to fears and responses to the coronavirus pandemic. The market also has also triggered "circuit breakers" that temporarily halt trading to prevent massive swings. What could potentially happen if they just halted all trading for the next two months as a medium-term circuit breaker? Assume they did it at night without warning so that people couldn't get trades in before the closure. Would the rest of the economy continue to function otherwise (other coronavirus effects not withstanding)? During the closure, I would imagine that stock prices would just stay the same and then companies would adapt to their changing supply and demand situation as needed, right? Once it opened again there might be a swing once we know which companies have survived the pandemic and which won't but that speculation is happening on a daily basis now, why not just close it to prevent chaos and allow companies to think longer term without worrying about momentary market valuation? | would |
We often get sore throats once or twice a year, and it clears in a few days sometimes without any antibiotics. I was wondering why doesn't our body become immune after clearing a sore throat? | would |
Given that a vaccine or an effective treatment for COVID-19 is the best way out of the current crisis, it seems logical that governments would take a "no holds barred" approach to making it happen as soon as possible. Have any countries so far announced that they would abolish (or significantly relax) restrictions on drug/vaccine development for the duration of the pandemic? | virus |
Presuming that we were able to find a person who was never exposed to any of the human seasonal coronaviruses (part of the viruses that cause the common cold), would the virus be just as deadly for that person as the SARS-CoV-2 currently circulating around the world? Or is SARS-CoV-2 uniquely dangerous? | virus |
I will be travelling for more than 13 hours through South East Asia, most of the time in a crowded environment like airplane or transiting at the airport. What precautions should I take to reduce the chances of contracting any contagious disease, such as Corona Virus COVID-19? | virus |
If the world hadn't noticed that Covid-19 was significantly different from previous situations, and if it had treated it like any other flu outbreak, what would have happened? Typically an influenza outbreak of any kind results in nursing homes and other sensitive areas being closed to visitors and their taking extra precautions for internal cleanliness and hygiene. If all the effort were put into protecting the most vulnerable and everyone else simply warned to be careful, the disease would spread among the general population but there would be very few serious cases. In the short, medium, and long term, would the world be significantly better or worse than it will be with the current political actions? | virus |
If I get infected once with the virus which causes a common cold, does that mean I will not get infected with the same strain of the virus ever in my lifetime? Is the immune system capable and smart enough to recognize the viruses that have infected me in the past, and kill them before it initiates its incubation within a cell? If so, why do I keep getting a common cold again and again? Do I keep exposing myself to a new different strain of the same virus? Based on the fact that there are over 200 different types of viruses that cause a common cold. To what extent do you think creating a universal vaccine for the common cold could be successful, and what are the challenges facing scientists in creating a successful universal vaccine? | virus |
I understand that there will be some issues. I have got a single entery Italian Schengen Visa valid early April for 2 weeks. But because of the coronavirus, Italy is under lockdown, which means that I am unable to make my trip as planned. Now if I changed my planned destination and to visit Greece (by flight via Paris) instead, can I enter France with my already issued Italian Schengen Visa? I can provide my new air ticket and hotel reservations, but I won't go to Italy at all. What other options I can choose if I need to make the trip on the same dates? | would |
With travel restricted by the COVID-19 pandemic, many academics are organizing online seminars and conferences as a substitute for regular in-person university seminars, colloquia, and research conferences. In real life, seminars are usually open to anyone who wants to drop in, and every attendee can be seen and heard and may ask questions. So an obvious approach is to organize the event using video meeting software such as Zoom, and simply post the link on a public website so that any interested person can participate. However, this also opens the event to "Zoom bombers", random people who just want to disrupt the proceedings with annoying or offensive video / audio / text chat - such abuse has unfortunately become very common in public Zoom meetings. What best practices exist to keep such an event as open as possible to legitimate participants, and let them interact with each other and the speaker in a reasonable way, while reducing the risk of disruption and abuse? What are the pros and cons of these strategies? Strategies could be general, or involve specific features of certain software. Some strategies I've thought of, and their drawbacks: Create a password for the meeting. Then the question is, to whom should the organizer give the password? If they only give it to people they know, it excludes people who might be interested but whom they happen not to know. If they distribute it to large mailing lists of interested academics, it raises the chance that it will fall into the wrong hands. Offer to share the password by email upon request. This requires extra time from the organizer to respond to those emails, and to manually verify the credentials of each requester. Require a nominal registration fee, as real-life conferences often do. This requires setting up an online payment system, which can be a lot of work, and may exclude people who are only casually interested, or who don't have funding, or who work in less wealthy parts of the world. It may also involve the organizer in a lot of bureaucracy with their university as to how the fees will be managed and spent. Use a "waiting room" feature, where participants must be approved immediately before joining. However, as far as I know, the host only sees the participant's name. If they see an unfamiliar name, how can they tell whether it is a troll, or a legitimate researcher whom they just happen not to know? Conversely, I don't think there is anything to stop a troll from masquerading under the name of a famous academic. I am wondering if people have thought of better solutions, that are specifically appropriate to academia. Such strategies might take advantage of specific features of the academic community, e.g. to authenticate genuine researchers (.edu addresses? accounts on preprint servers? ORCid IDs?). Answers could also address the pros and cons of such strategies as they apply to academia in particular, and how well they fit with people's existing expectations for academic conferences. | would |
This Science Daily article states that steroids could do more harm than good in treating coronavirus (COVID-19), referring to this The Lancet article. Understanding the evidence for harm or benefit from corticosteroids in 2019-nCoV is of immediate clinical importance. It's unclear to me how exactly the use of corticosteroids (which is a common treatments for Asthma patients) can do harm other than the vague explanation of "steroids also impair the immune system's ability to fight viruses". How exactly does the use of steroids harm the body in case of fighting a virus such as SARS-CoV-2 (2019-nCoV) that causes COVID-19? | virus |
I am a masters of mathematics student in Asia and I wrote to some professors for PH D position in number theory. One of the professors in France said yes to me but he said that I should look for other sources of funding as his university didn't had PhD funding at that time. There is one scholarship Foundation in my country where I was thinking of applying as a potential candidate. But the Conditions are that I should have a written appropval from my prospective guide. In between I began preparing for my mid term exams and then appearing for them and masters dissertation viva . As I got spare time, the covid-19 outbreak spread. It's not to worry about here but I came to know through news that it's very serious in France and whole Europe. Also, last date for applying to scholarship portal is 31 March and it will not be extended. So , should I ask to my prospective guide to write a confirmation letter in the middle of Covid-19 in his country. Doesn't this show that I am an emotionless person with no etiquette at all who doesn't even care about in what situation my prospective guide, his family and his colleagues are? | would |
I've gone sale agreed (note: "sale agreed" means the sale has been agreed in principle - no contracts have been signed, no non-refundable deposits have been made etc.) on a house. The market I'm currently in was extremely competitive, houses were all generally going for significantly more than their asking price, as mine did. I have nearly everything ready - loan arranged, survey of the house completed, solicitor ready to sign everything. Now with Covid, a recession is more than likely coming our way. Furthermore, with lock-downs in place - the seller is extremely unlikely to find an alternative buyer in the near future (it's an executor sale if that makes any difference). I was thinking of trying to put some pressure onto the seller to lower the agreed price. While I don't want to lose the house (and the money we have spent so far on legal etc.), I would also like to take advantage of potentially lower mortgage repayments. Is it a bad idea to put this to the estate agent and be forthright about exactly why I'm asking to lower the price? Is there a "reasonable" amount to lower the purchase price by? Edit My intention here isn't to "screw" the seller as several commentators assume that I am trying to do. At the end of the day, I'm a first time buyer who has effectively agreed to buy a house at "peak" economic health. Within a couple of weeks of this agreement, economic impacts of covid-19 were already being felt and the short / medium term prospects are not good. At the end of this year, if covid hasn't wreaked enough havoc, there is a very real risk that Brexit could have an extremely negative impact on my country. So while the honorable thing to do might be to commit to the agreed purchase price, this might be an extremely unwise decision from a personal finance point of view. "Why don't you just pull out of the sale then?" I could do that, that leaves the seller in a very bad position as well - it will be extremely unlikely they will be able to find another buyer in the short / medium term - so giving them an opportunity to consider my concerns might be better than simply walking away. | would |
(Not sure if this is the right SE for this question. I'm asking this here, because I'm looking for a biological answer, if one exists.) This (potentially very naive) question is inspired by this news article: Bats for sale at Indonesia's wildlife market despite virus warning Bats, rats and snakes are still being sold at an Indonesian market known for its wildlife offerings, despite a government request to take them off the menu over fears of a link to the deadly coronavirus. Why would the government request to take the meat of these animals off the market? Even if they're linked to the coronavirus, the virus presumably can be killed by cooking the meat prior to consumption. After all, protein denatures well before 100 degrees celsius, and once it denatures the organism should die. Conceivably the virus could affect the handlers of these animals prior to their being cooked, but not the consumers. Some paragraphs later in the article illustrate my confusion: Restaurateur Lince Rengkuan -- who serves bats including their heads and wings stewed in coconut milk and spices -- says the secret is preparation. "If you don't cook the bat well then of course it can be dangerous," she said. "We cook it thoroughly and so far the number of customers hasn't gone down at all." Which is effectively what I've been thinking, but: "We're also urging people not to consume meat from animals suspected to be carriers of a fatal disease," said Ruddy Lengkong, head of the area's government trade and industry agency. How are these two seemingly-contradictory positions reconciled? | virus |
Everyone agrees that COVID-19 did not originate in India and came from international travellers. Why didn't India ban incoming flights in early Feb 2020 till the virus problem is over ? Is there any international travel rule which prohibits a country from refusing entry to its own citizens? | would |
CONTEXT While no government wants there to be a pandemic, and would certainly prefer (hope) for it to just go away, they can only downplay it for a short time before it overwhelms the population and they must address it from a significantly weaker position than if they had acted decisively at the beginning. In the smartphone era, information propagates instantly through informal networks (Facebook, WeChat, StackExchange, etc.) and is difficult to suppress. QUESTIONS After witnessing the COVID epidemic and failure to contain it in Asia, it spread to Europe and was poised to infect the west. Why did western hemisphere leaders downplay the pandemic’s threat instead of acknowledging the problem and communicating what would be done to reverse the issue? What is the political incentive for deferring acknowledgement and action? | virus |
It is generally assumed that an FDA approval is conditioned on the demonstrated safety and effectiveness of a product. However, when the FDA authorizes the use of a product due to an emergency condition, does that mean that there is no requirement to demonstrate safety and effectiveness? Presumably the FDA has some regulatory threshold between "not proven safe" and "proven safe" where it issues emergency use authorizations. So, to what degree are safety standards relaxed when an FDA Emergency Use Authorization is used in lieu of a standard FDA approval? Second question: while it is obviously that the relaxation of standards is influenced by the severity of the emergency, but does that relaxation threshold also vary with political and or corporate pressures? | would |
I am a researcher in high-performance computing (with very little bioinformatics background), and I am trying to understand what are the current biggest computational bottlenecks of softwares used for research on the topic of Covid-19 (testing, vaccine development, drug identification, etc...). I know this is a very broad question, but I am looking for the biggest common denominators. Said differently, if you could pick a few operations / algorithms / data structures to speed up Covid-19 research and they would magically run 1000 times faster, what would they be? Note: links to books, papers, and scientific literature are very welcomed. | virus |
Looking at the DNA (or RNA?) sequence of the Covid-19 virus here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/MN908947.3 I notice it ends in 33 a's. Does the virus really look like that, or is it some artifact of the sequencing process, or some sort of padding to round out numbers? Here's the last few lines: 29761 acagtgaaca atgctaggga gagctgccta tatggaagag ccctaatgtg taaaattaat 29821 tttagtagtg ctatccccat gtgattttaa tagcttctta ggagaatgac aaaaaaaaaa 29881 aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaa | virus |
With all the coronavirus panic, I was wondering what would happen when the share price reaches £0 for a company, but the actual company itself or their business niche is not that much affected, i.e. the company is still operating and it's far from going bankrupt. I'm not interested in answers that this is a good buy. I would like to understand what happens to existing share holders and the company itself, if shares for the company will hit £0. Is such an event possible? This is for companies traded in the UK. | would |
During this covid-19 event, Australians have been addressed by the Prime Minister Scott Morrison a number of times, where he has delivered speeches and informed the public of what actions are appropriate to take, and what the government is doing about the situation. A number of times, he tells us that he is being advised by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee. Here is a webpage describing the AHPPC: https://www.health.gov.au/committees-and-groups/australian-health-protection-principal-committee-ahppc The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee is the key decision making committee for health emergencies. It is comprised of all state and territory Chief Health Officers and is chaired by the Australian Chief Medical Officer. The Chief Medical Officer is Brendan Murphy. For the other members of the committee, we are left with this: Contacts for the Chief Health Officers can be found on each state and territory's websites. I have tried to find the name of the person who is the Chief Health Officer for each state, and have been able to find a few, but most I couldn't find. Who are these Chief Health Officers? (The only two I could find are Brad Hazzard for New South Wales and Jenny Mikakos for Victoria) | would |
I may have a number of reasons for wanting to intentionally expose myself to the coronavirus. (Examples: I feel more capable of surviving it while I am younger. It reduces my ability to carry and spread the virus once my immune system has developed antibodies. It may strengthen the immune system against related viruses.) Can a government legally prevent me from intentionally infecting myself with a virus? | virus |
Following the recent Coronavirus outbreak, various mortality rates have been published. Most of these are simply the ratio between the deaths and the total verified cases, which is not a very accurate indicator as many of the verified cases are ongoing and could result in deaths. I know some statistics from university but I am in no way an expert. I was wondering if there was any commonly used statistical model to predict with some accuracy the mortality rate of an ongoing epidemic. If there is, I'm guessing some of the variables would be the time between the onsetting of symptoms and death/healing for resolved cases. | virus |
Knowing that the routes of transmissions are mainly (only?) eye, nose, mouth: https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/modes-of-transmission-of-virus-causing-covid-19-implications-for-ipc-precaution-recommendations would it be possible to purposely catch it in a specific way so that it will only result in mild symptoms? Maybe even infecting other mucus areas inside the body (by let's say injection) where it cannot spread too much. It can be useful in situations where the probability of catching the virus in the long run is very high. For example one may prefer to infect the eye and protect the other routes (if possible). In the same line of thought, maybe infect and then being knowledgeable about the infection one can start the treatment even before the first symptoms or at the first symptoms and aim for later immunity. | virus |
If, as a US citizen or resident, I had flu-like symptoms and if I was not covered by Medicaid/Medicare and didn't have health insurance, who would be liable for paying for COVID-19 test diagnostics in a US hospital? I saw an offhand remark about "the cost and people not getting tested as a result", in an online forum. It wasn't even a claim that it was happening, more like a quip that it might happen. The US healthcare vs Euro/Canadian-style coverage debate has been done to death, but it usually revolves around the problems lack of coverage brings to the people who are ill. This is not what I am asking about. An epidemic situation however brings a different dynamic: there's a vested interested for everyone else that sick people are identified as such and isolated, it's not just about the being well-being of the patients. To assist in containment, you want to remove as many barriers to early diagnosis as possible. Is there/could there be some form of emergency funding for at least the tests themselves, at the federal level? One model is for example, the financial arrangements around vaccination programs. Edit: the question concerns the procedure for the entire test, i.e. lab services as well as clinic time: seeing a doctor/nurse, taking the tests and getting the results. Nothing more, but also all of what's necessary for a YES/NO answer wrt having COVID-19 or not. Bryan's answer is great wrt to the kit and lab services themselves, but someone still needs to interview you and take whatever samples are necessary to send off for testing, Do these arrangements vary by state? Or does the Federal govt, through the CDC, have jurisdiction? State vs Federal: it seems to me that a Federal-level guidance ought to be faster than waiting for all 50 states to come up with their own programs individually. | virus |
I have tried to find an answer to this but have not found anything after multiple attempts. The question on the table is if the human body is able to produce an immune response to the COVID-19 virus if one has been exposed? This would apply most specifically to persons that have been tested positive but have "survived" (i.e. not having succumbed to the serious lung complications that have caused deaths for some persons). A follow on question that comes from this is if the human body is able to mount a suitable defense does the current practice of keeping people in quarantine for two weeks allow for this defense to reach full effectiveness? | virus |
Senator Burr is currently being accused of using insider information to sell his stock in advance of the coronavirus epidemic: Burr had been receiving daily coronavirus updates from the intelligence community in his role as committee chairman, per a Feb. 27 report by Reuters. After writing a Feb. 7 Fox News op-ed that said the U.S. is "better prepared than ever before" to face public health threats such as COVID-19, he sold between $628,000 and $1.72 million in stocks on Feb. 13, ProPublica reported. But what non-public information did Burr receive? China being put into lockdown was public information and was discussed by the media around the world. The first American coronavirus patient was diagnosed on January 19th in Washington and this was likewise public information. The virus spreading to Italy and other European countries was in the news in late January as well. So what exactly did Senator Burr do wrong? What information could he have possibly obtained that wasn't in the news by early-mid February? | would |
I am sure this question has been asked in some capacity on this site. I am a first year graduate student. I was contracted for a summer program that would have looked very good on my CV about 6 weeks ago. However, due to the spread of COVID-19 the program was cancelled. Is there any way I can express this on my CV (possibly have an asterisk next to this activity)? If not, how should I explain the situation when applying for positions next year (because, now it is unlikely I will have anything noteworthy to put on my CV for this summer). Thank you | would |
I want to fly from Croatia to the US. I am a US citizen, so I know that I will be able to get into the US. However, with COVID-19 restriction in place, am I able to take a flight with layovers in the Schengen area? The exact flight that I am looking at includes going from Zagreb to Paris to New York. I have already seen Are layovers included in the Schengen to USA COVID-19 travel ban?, but that is asking about restrictions on traveling to the US, not about restrictions on travelling through the Schengen area. | would |
For this question, we will define surveillance as large scale random Covid-19 testing. It is my understanding that: surveillance enables the sorting of asymptomatic patients to be immediately isolated when infected (and reducing further infections). the USA does is not applying said strategy said strategy was successfully engaged in Korea HBR indicates: “Testing is the biggest problem that we’re facing,” Peter Slavin, president of Massachusetts General Hospital, said recently in a roundtable on Covid-19 at Harvard Medical School. While South Korea had tested about 4,000 people per million of its population at the time, the United States had just run five tests per million — despite the fact that they both reported their first cases at essentially the same time (on January 21 and 20). The discrepancy was surprising because the genome of the virus had been available since January and scientists had figured out the diagnostics shortly thereafter, using proven molecular methods first discovered in the 1970s." South Korea has a population of ~ 51M and the USA population is ~330M. This article indicates Jacksonville drive-in testing is limited to 250 tests per day. Why is surveillance not implemented at scale in the USA? If the USA does not have testing at scale, why is this the case? Unwilling (culture / etc.) Unable (knowledge / materials / preparation / etc.) Regulatory hurdles? | virus |
I'm wondering how much Covid-19 affected scientific productivity, if it affected productivity negatively at all (c.f. Newton actually did a lot of his most important work while the University of Cambridge was closed due to plague). I'm using the rate at which papers are published on arXiv as a proxy for "scientific productivity", fully aware that it is not a perfect proxy and probably lags actual productivity by quite a bit. If country-specific statistics are available, e.g. "The number of publications by authors from Italy changed by __% on 9 March 2020, the date the lockdown started", that's even better. | virus |
The WHO was against travel restrictions as they detailed in a press release at the end of February. But in the month past (March) practically every country on earth has instituted travel restrictions, most recently China, which is now afraid of being reinfected from abroad. So, has the WHO changed their public stance in any way about travel restrictions by now? I searched a bit, but it seems they've gone mum on the topic of travel, while (of course) strongly advocating for social distancing in general. (Aside: the WHO wants us to use "physical distancing" as the more appropriate term for that.) I haven't done anything like a survey on this, but clearly some governments include "minimize travel" in the physical distantincing advice they give, e.g. Australia's Government advice for implementing physical distancing has mainly urged people to isolate themselves in space: staying at least 1.5 metres apart, working from home, avoiding gatherings, and minimising travel. So maybe the WHO has done the same somewhere in their recommendations and I've missed it. Likewise, there have been at least three (high-profile) publications in Science this month on this: March 6 the travel quarantine of Wuhan delayed the overall epidemic progression by only 3 to 5 days in Mainland China, but has a more marked effect at the international scale, where case importations were reduced by nearly 80% until mid February. Modeling results also indicate that sustained 90% travel restrictions to and from Mainland China only modestly affect the epidemic trajectory unless combined with a 50% or higher reduction of transmission in the community. March 25 It remains unclear how these unprecedented interventions, including travel restrictions, affected COVID-19 spread in China. We use real-time mobility data from Wuhan and detailed case data including travel history to elucidate the role of case importation on transmission in cities across China and ascertain the impact of control measures. Early on, the spatial distribution of COVID-19 cases in China was explained well by human mobility data. Following the implementation of control measures, this correlation dropped and growth rates became negative in most locations, although shifts in the demographics of reported cases were still indicative of local chains of transmission outside Wuhan. This study shows that the drastic control measures implemented in China substantially mitigated the spread of COVID-19. March 31 The Wuhan shutdown was associated with the delayed arrival of COVID-19 in other cities by 2.91 days (95%CI: 2.54-3.29). [...] This analysis provided no evidence that the prohibition of travel between cities, which was implemented after and in addition to the Wuhan shutdown on 23 January, reduced the number of cases in other cities across China. These results are robust to the choice of statistical regression model. [It also analyzes, and finds effective (via association), most city-level social-distancing measures:] Our model suggests that, without the Wuhan travel ban or the national emergency response, there would have been 744,000 (± 156,000) confirmed COVID-19 cases outside Wuhan by 19 February, day 50 of the epidemic. With the Wuhan travel ban alone, this number would have decreased to 202,000 (± 10,000) | virus |
According to Wikipedia :- ...Although the cause is unknown, the underlying mechanism involves an autoimmune disorder in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the peripheral nerves and damages their myelin insulation. Sometimes this immune dysfunction is triggered by an infection or, less commonly by surgery and rarely by vaccination. The diagnosis is usually made based on the signs and symptoms, through the exclusion of alternative causes... Can the SARS-CoV-2, which causes both upper and lower respiratory tract infections, cause GB syndrome? There's evidence that the Zika virus, H1N1 and few other viruses can cause GB Syndrome. Is there any possibility or evidence that the said coronavirus can trigger this autoimmune disease? | virus |
Governments are imposing confinement measures on their populations, trusting that if there is no more transmission the virus will die out. But since this coronavirus appeared a first time, what could prevent it from reappearing any number of times ? | virus |
After last minute, party-line decisions by the US and Wisconsin Supreme Courts, Wisconsin will hold their presidential primary and a hotly-contested Supreme Court election tomorrow (April 7th) despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The state's Democratic governor has been pushing to delay the election and/or extend the window for absentee ballot collection, but the Republican controlled legislature have opposed both moves. In addition to the the potential for voters to get infected while voting, the vast majority of polling sites have been closed due to a lack of volunteers (most of whom are usually retirees) to run them: The state has faced serious questions about its ability to run an election amid the pandemic. With poll workers quitting out of fears of contracting the virus, more than 100 municipalities have said they lack enough staff to run even one polling place. Milwaukee typically has about 180 sites; this election the city plans to have five open. The head of the state elections commission raised the possibility in court testimony that some voters may have to head to a different town on Election Day because no one will be staffing the polls in their hometowns. Wisconsin Is Set to Vote on Tuesday After Court Overrules Governor’s Postponement - The New York Times Why is the state Republican party insisting on going forward with an election where most people will be unable to vote, even if they're willing to risk their lives and health to do so? Even if they don't consider the threat of COVID-19 to be significant, the closure of so many polling places guarantees that people will be denied the opportunity to vote. | would |
I was thinking about this problem when I searched up how warm it takes to kill the new coronavirus. A source said 132 fahrenheit for 30 minutes. I wanted to calculate how much energy that would take so then I could easily find out how long I would have to microwave an object to get the same results. All I want is just how much energy is put into maintaining this 132 fahrenheit for half an hour at a room temperature. A formula would be fine because I want to be able to apply this to other problems that might come up. | would |
Given the current covid-19 situation where the home country (India) has stopped all international flights, how can one (65+ year old) extend their B2 visa or stay after I-94 extension? Any help is appreciated. I called up USCIS regarding the same and they told me it usually takes around 6 months to process these applications. My main concern is what if the application is rejected and the applicant has already overstayed their original VISA expiry date, will it be considered illegal? What happens if it is considered illegal? Edit : Airlift for Indian nationals in the USA Whoever is interested kindly fill this out https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScumxMZ7CdNho-4ZRmjOvdMEVu5oNZn1QsJDiJ_BIQTSC9Itw/viewform | would |
I was recently accepted by a college or university. I was planning on graduating from high school soon and then enrolling in college. My high school has just announced that it will be closed for a reason such as the COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic. Will I still be able to start college? (Question limited to students who are already admitted.) | would |
On march the 16th (probably) the NHS held a press conference (Youtube Link) that includes (paraphrased) We need to <u><b>delay and weaken</b></u> the peak so the NHS would not be overflown How? They didn't really explain the way behind delay and weakening the peak Anybody could help? | would |
I am going on holiday very soon and I have a mild temperature, I feel quite well and in my honest opinion, I am fit to travel. I will take my medication with me etc. I also look quite well. I have a worry though. Can airport metal detectors/x-rays in the UK or in any airport detect temperature? If so and they want to pull me over for a check I will allow more time for airport security. Also, do you think they might have to test/quarantine me for coronavirus as the symptoms according to the NHS are: a cough a high temperature shortness of breath I have a medium temperature and a mild cough (2 of 3 symptoms). It would be a pain and really upsetting to ruin my holiday. | virus |
A week ago spanish soccer team returned from Milan and 1/3 of the team members have been tested positive for Coronavirus, but none of them developed symptoms. They yet could develop since the incubation period is said to be up to 2 weeks, but it's said for there is people who is asymptomatic during the whole disease. Is there an estimate of how many people infected with SARS-CoV-2 are asymptomatic? | virus |
Due to COVID-19, I have decided not to return to my university in April (which was my original plan.) However, my university-approved apartment complex will not release me from my contractual obligation; they have only offered a discounted rent for the inconvenience. As a condition of university approval, all apartment complexes are required to ensure their premises are safe. However, based on the latest word from the university's Housing Office, it does not appear that they will be intervening. I am in Colorado, and my apartment complex is in Idaho. For the uninitiated/unaware, both are under stay-at-home orders that, at the time of this writing, are scheduled to end before April 18th, when I am "expected" to return to university. My question is, am I still obligated to pay rent, or can I refuse on the basis of the pandemic? EDIT: After a review of my last contract with them, I found this section: BREACH OF CONTRACT BY LANDLORD: Landlord may be in breach of Contract for the following reasons: (A) Landlord fails to maintain property according to BYU-Idaho requirements as stated in the Approved Housing Guidebook; (B) Landlord materially misrepresents property on website and/or in written information such as e-mails, flyers, brochures, etc.; or (C) Landlord suffers, permits, or maintains any nuisance or any health or safety hazard on the premises. Landlord agrees to release Student from this Contract and cover moving costs. | would |
How long will it remain potent outside an organism? I'm thinking in the context of if it can survive a couple of weeks or a month in the mail for the recipient to get infected. Edit: I tried looking at the WHO's page dedicated to the virus, have not found anything pertaining to my question in the PDFs there (maybe I overlooked something, I guess I'm just lacking the proper keyword to use for the search) I tried looking at the coronavirus Wikipedia page and have not found anything there. I did find somewhere that a flu virus would typically not remain potent for more than 14 days outside of an organism, but I'm not sure if this applies to all viruses. | virus |
I'm going to post a question related to the current events and I think it could be very interesting. In the midst of the crisis with the coronavirus, Croatian capital of Zagreb was hit by a strong earthquake on March 22. Since a lot of people escaped their homes in panic, there were fears that the earthquake would cause an increase in the cases of coronavirus since people didn't obey the rules of social distancing when they escaped outside due to the earthquake. The Director of the Croatian Institute for Public Health, Krunoslav Capak, said that they conducted some preliminary analyses that suggest that the earthquake didn't cause an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. The analyses are preliminary becuase the incubation period of the virus is known to be as long as 14 days, so it's possible that the effect is not visible yet. Regardless of the incubation period length, I was confused by Capak's statement because I cannot think of a statistical method I would use to make that inference. Does anyone know what analyses was Capak referring to? What statistical analyses would be appropriate to determine if there was an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in Croatia due to the earthquake? The number of coronavirus cases in Croatia can be found here: https://github.com/viborccom/data/blob/master/covid-19/croatia/time-series.csv?fbclid=IwAR2ekRN44WnKwlTQJAgpfYyJTz01GedrqJupB28d-g_KoGBnroIGWt8Jb58 | virus |
Why do coronaviruses come from bats? I mean, why precisely coronaviruses and not (for instance) herpesviruses? It looks like bats host more zoonotic viruses (per species) than rodents, although they don't develop any sign of disease. The article above says that rodents host more zoonotic viruses than bats overall (68 against 61), but at the same time most of the latest pandemics originated from bats. It also seems that bats could be involved in the maintenance of ebola viruses. My question is: why did these major pandemics originate from bats and not from rodents, although rodents host more zoonotic viruses overall? We should also take into consideration that human-rodent interaction is usually more likely than human-bat interaction, except for people who consume bats (like Chinese people; this would (partially) explain why both SARS and 2019-nCoV developed in China). | virus |
About a month ago, I signed a lease for an apartment (with two roommates who are renewing their lease) in North Carolina with a move-in date of May 15th. I'm a STEM graduate student, and with developing family finance concerns and the recent transition to remote everything both teaching and research related, I'm beginning to think it may not makes sense to drain so much of my income to stay near a closed university rather than move in with my brother. To my reading, the lease agreement states that breaking with more than 6 months remaining will incur a penalty of 2 months' rent. Were I to attempt to back out in the next few days (well before the move-in date), could I expect the current national or state declaration of a state of emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic to impact my penalty? In particular, is there any legal reason to expect that, due to the state of emergency, I could avoid the penalty altogether? | would |
I'm a senior TA helping out my instructor with restructuring the course in light of the coronavirus causing in-class cancellations at our university. We have tools allowing our students to do their programming labs online, and therefore our class can still run, but we still have a lab practical that's a huge part of students' grades, and I personally would prefer that that not be replaced by some generic homework. Would any of you happen to know of ways to make secure environments where a website (in this case, the tool allowing students to do their labs) could be loaded? The student shouldn't be able to navigate to another tab or close full screen, and the website immediately submits code to the server when the time for the virtual "exam" is up. I've tried searching for examples myself, but I'm not sure if I'm wording my problem correctly because I don't get any relevant results. I'd really appreciate the examples you have. Thank you in advance! | would |
So far the Western nations I'm aware of seem to be trending towards the Chinese/South Korean plan for coronavirus containment: Lockdown the entire country until the number of new cases is manageable Introduce localized quarantines and contact tracing to minimize the number of new infections Wait for the vaccine or cure However point #3 is risky, as no one is sure if a vaccine can be at all created or if an effective enough cure can be developed. Therefore it might be tempting for some countries to go for an alternative approach in an attempt to balance the risks. Have any countries officially (or at least indirectly) announced such a plan? Some alternative solutions I'm aware of: "Do nothing" Isolating the elderly, but no general quarantine Chickenpox style variolation, similar to the pox parties of the past Maintaining a full lockdown from the world without having the virus locally - 22 countries report this so far I am aware that the situation is currently evolving around the world, so I expect new answers to trickle in within the next months. | virus |
Sweden has adopted a far less radical set of policies in reaction to COVID-19 than most other European states. Many other European states are in "lock-down", with severe restrictions on people's free movement, with people being advised to only leave their homes for food/medicine. In Sweden, by contrast, people are largely carrying on with their normal lives. While every other country in Europe has been ordered into ever more stringent coronavirus lockdown, Sweden has remained the exception. Schools for pupils up to 16 years, kindergartens, bars, restaurants, ski resorts, sports clubs, hairdressers: all remain open, weeks after everything closed down in next door Denmark and Norway. As the rest of Europe lives under lockdown, Sweden keeps calm and carries on - The Guardian, March 28, 2020 What social and political factors underlie this decision, and why is it so dramatically different to other European countries response? | would |
In one of the answers to another question about the corona virus a link was given to this phylogenetic analysis of the virus. Can somebody assist a non-bio type here? It seems to show that the current corona virus split from a virus in bats. And that the same ancestral virus is also ancestral to several other viruses, some in humans and some in bats. Is my understanding basically correct? | virus |
I used to travel a lot and take photographs at those places. Now borders are closed due to COVID-19 precautions and we'll be probably ordered to stay at home except some special cases. What are my photography options in this situation? | would |
How would you explain COVID-19 lockdown to a 4 year old given that the lockdown might be in place for months in London? | would |
We've all heard a lot about "flattening the curve". I was wondering if these curve – that look like bells – can be qualified as Gaussian despite the fact that there is a temporal dimension. | would |
I want to do a multi day cycle tour in Germany, but campsites are closed. According to the interior ministry (Coronavirus: Fragen und Antworten) Der Aufenthalt im öffentlichen Raum ist nur alleine ... gestattet." (I can go into public places on my own). 2 questions Can I do a multi-day cycle tour? Mainly in the Saarland and Rheinland-Pfalz. Perhaps also Hessen. Can I camp in public spaces? The questions are in the context of the Corona virus. In previous years in summer I have seen people camp out in the open along various rivers (Mosel, Rhine, Saale, Fulda). Myself I have camped in the open in the Blackforest, Erzgebirge and various other parts of Germany. But there was no Corona virus. I do not want to know if stealth / wild camping is allowed in normal times. I am also worried that with a touring bicycle (bags on rear and front racks), the authorities will immediately see that I am doing a tourist activity and not simply going to work. (I am already legally in Germany.) | would |
I'm interested in learning more about sampling a changing population over time. For example, these statistics from the University of Washington coronavirus testing show a 7% positive rate day after day. Some news outlets are interpreting this as a positive: "One encouraging sign is that in Washington State, which had an early outbreak, the number of positive tests appears stable." http://depts.washington.edu/labmed/covid19/ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-outcomes.html Can someone suggest a branch of statistics or papers for further study that would help me assess the veracity of such claims? My intuitive reasoning, as described below, shows why I am questioning the optimistic interpretation, but I would like to learn a more formalized framework. For instance, let's say that the population proportion that tests positive for an attribute is 7%, and that proportion is stable. If I took a random sample each day, I should be getting 7% consistently, subject to some variance. However, let's say the population proportion is subject to change over time. Let's also add the assumption that I am trying to prioritize sampling people (without replacement) that I believe are most likely to be positive. Eventually I will sample the whole population. Under these new assumptions, if the population proportion were stable, you would expect my initial sample proportions to overshoot, and my final sample proportions to under shoot as I ran out of likely positives. That would imply that if my sample proportion was constant and did NOT drift down over time, then my population proportion MUST be increasing over time. And if my sample proportion was increasing over time, then my population proportion must be increasing by a heck of a lot over time. These are just qualitative conclusions I can come to. Is there a branch of statistics I can learn about to help me make concrete conclusions about a changing population proportion given sample proportions over time? I am sure that as you vary the sample size across time, the conclusions also change. Any framework to help understand the tweaks and their effects would be great. Thank you. | would |
I'm wondering if cheaper alternatives are as effective in daily cleanliness of surfaces. | would |
Can one travel from Metro Manila to somewhere else in Philippines outside Metro Manila via another country during the COVID-19 Metro Manila lockdown? Or is it against the Metro Manila lockdown rules and would lead to being refused entry? | would |
Post-viral anosmia is one of the leading causes of loss of sense of smell in adults, accounting for up to 40% cases of anosmia. Viruses that give rise to the common cold are well known to cause post-infectious loss, and over 200 different viruses are known to cause upper respiratory tract infections. Previously described coronaviruses are thought to account for 10-15% cases. It is therefore perhaps no surprise that the novel COVID-19 virus would also cause anosmia in infected patients. But people are reporting anosmia as a presenting symptom. What are the percentages here? | virus |
A few years ago we wanted to open a new program that will be based on distance learning, however, getting accredited for having a master degree program that is based on distance learning and not on campus is literally a bureaucratic nightmare. First, no one allowed us to use Zoom, Microsoft Teams or other currently popular distance learning tools, second it should be some sort of "Moodle" program with clear guidelines for each week. Third everything needs to be under guidelines of the Distance Education Accrediting Commission, in current COVID19 teaching organizational crisis we don't follow those guidelines at all. I wonder what are legal repercussions for doing distance learning when you are not accredited to do one. Can our students with disability complain since when they needed this option we couldn't provide to them since our excuse was that we weren't ready or accredited to do so? And last but not least, can we legally organize accredited on-campus program but perform it online or using distance learning completely? | would |
Given the recent shutdowns of many universities across the world, there's an increased interest in online education techniques. In my case, I am a TA for a quantum chemistry class, and I'm finding it daunting to transition to online teaching. At first, I got really excited because I thought of taking advantage of this situation to run a flipped discussion section: I'd record lectures in advance, and then have virtual office hours where students could Zoom/Skype/Google hangout with me and we discuss in the same chatroom (so everyone hears the conversation). However, in what I suspect to be an attempt to distance themselves from something nice and free/far cheaper (like edX) which has been doing this online routine for a long time, my university has required that we livestream our lectures/discussion sections. This is purportedly to be in the aim to make their online experience as college-like as possible, but it's problematic for multiple reasons. First, lectures are at 9AM EST... Do we expect students to tune in at 10 PM in Japan? Or 3 AM in Hawaii? Second, we should use the silver linings present in this university shutdown: video lectures = students get to go back and re-listen to a part that confused them! From my perspective, this university requirement goes against an attempt to maintain normalcy: normalcy should not be defined as continuation of the same daily routine (impossible for many), but rather a continuation of helpful instruction. I intend to find out whom to email about this, but in the meantime, what resources/advice would you suggest for an instructor who suddenly has to transition to the digital classroom? | would |
I heard that the scientist in Australia found a way to segregate the 2019 NovCoronovirus from the blood. Does this mean they are one step closer to the cure? Why is virus segregation crucial in finding a cure for a viral infection? | virus |
I want to inquire if CPAP devices can act as low performance ventilators, if they are connected to an oxygen source as well. I am asking this question in regards to the covid-19 pandemic. There are only two websites which cover this in the entire web. One of them only suggests that CPAP devices may increase the risk of spreading. The other one notes similarities between these devices. Due to the lack of discussion reachable via google, even if the answer is "no", it might help many people. I am looking for Scientific publications Conventions used in field hospitals/healthcare Your professional educated guess in this order. Please include which category your answer falls into. | would |
Recently I put down a holding deposit for an apartment I intend to move into next month (April 1). However, with the spread of COVID-19, moving in 2 weeks' time could be risky, or potentially impossible if I am quarantined. And, I don't know how many months I could be quarantined for. Regarding the holding deposit, I was told: it's nonrefundable if we are approved (we were) this deposit would be treated as part of our security deposit Unfortunately I did not think to get a receipt or any of this in writing. I was clear that my move-in date would be April 1, and may have included this in my application. If they refuse to push forward my move-in date due to COVID-19, do I have grounds to receive my deposit back? I haven't signed a lease yet. So perhaps when I receive the lease for review, it would be a good time to talk about flexibility for the move-in date. I live in California. | would |
I've seen mentioned in an article from March that: Earlier this month, [Rand] Paul, a licensed physician, voted against a bipartisan $8 billion emergency coronavirus funding bill. He was the sole senator to vote against. How did he vote on the subsequent, even bigger, Covid-related stimulus packages? | would |
I've recently purchased a vehicle and was planning on prepaying my auto insurance for the year up front rather than divided into monthly payments. Should I rather put some of that money to paying down more of the principal of the car loan , and pay auto insurance monthly increments as there is no interest associated with this? I have an open-ended loan and I can pay lump sum payments towards principal at any time. I'm also slightly worried about potential cash flow issues due to economic disruption of Covid-19. | would |
President Trump speaking yesterday (Feb 26th 2020) gave an update about the response of the US to the novel coronavirus outbreak. In an announcement that introduced a new team to tackle the virus, Trump said that Because of all we've done (so far), the risk to the American people remains very low. and that It is what it is. We're ready for it. We're really prepared. We have, as I said, we have the greatest people in the world. We're very ready for it. We hope it doesn't spread. There's a chance that it won't spread, too. And there's a chance that it will. The president's remarks were then followed by Dr Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who reiterated the organisation's remarks of February 25th where the director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, said that: Ultimately, we expect we will see community spread in this country. What measures, referred to by the President, have already been taken by the US government to prepare for the virus? Which of these have the Trump administration been responsible for? What is the purpose of the new team announced yesterday? | virus |
NOTE: Please do not delete this question. It is not a personal health question. The question has broad utility, in cases where others find themselves in social-distancing or quarantine with need for surface sanitizer, and their only available ingredients are water and powdered oxy-bleach. I need a quantity of surface sanitizer to decontaminate boxes delivered to the house during the Coronavirus19 social-distancing period. CDC and WHO say 0.5% hydrogen peroxide solution will destroy coronavirus19. And powdered oxy-bleach a.k.a. Sodium percarbonate contains 32.5% by weight of hydrogen peroxide, I'll call it roughly a third. So to make a water solution of hydrogen peroxide using powdered oxy-bleach, I'm thinking I need to add enough powdered oxy-bleach (by weight) to equal 3 x 0.5% of the weight of the water. I.e, for a gallon of solution, 1.5% of 8.3 pounds, thus 0.12 lb, or ~2 oz. A friend checked this and agreed, saying: "A 0.5% H2O2 solution in water will consist of (per gallon): 0.42 lbs of H2O2 and 7.9 lbs of H2O. To get 0.42 lbs of H2O2 out of Oxy-bleach (32.5% H2O2), divide 0.42 by 0.325, which = 0.128 lbs or 2.0529230769 ounces...😁" Can anyone poke holes in our thinking? Or refine it? Or suggest ways to make it easier for the lay-person locked-in without access to other surface sanitizers? Thank you in advance! | would |
My wife (a Kazakh national) is visiting in the UK on a Standard Visitor Visa, staying with my family. She arrived on Feb 1st. Her original intention was to stay for approximately 3 months, until April 30th, and stated as such on her application form. She had been to the UK twice already, and had always departed in line with her intentions as originally stated during her previous applications. Her current visa expires in July. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Kazahkstan will institute a one-month travel ban from tonight, preventing flights into the country. I'm a little concerned about what should happen if the ban is extended beyond that. I understand that the Home Office generally frowns upon visitors who stay longer than their stated intentions, even if they do not overstay their visa lengths. But if the Kazakh travel ban prevents her from travelling back to her country until a date beyond April 30th, might this cause a problem in her future visa applications? Or is it a reasonable excuse, and provided she explains the extended duration of her previous stay during the future application, might it be okay? Edit: On that note, she applied for this UK visa from China (where we lived at the time). Obviously, returning to China at this point, while theoretically possible (though we'd have to apply for new Chinese visas; they expired in February, a fact that she readily disclosed in her application), is hardly desirable. This is a circumstance that we could hardly have predicted beforehand. Her Chinese visa was temporary and she acknowledged this fact during her application. Might the UK officials think "well, you couldn't fly to Kazakhstan, sure, but why not go back to China? After all, you applied from there" ? I must stress that she never stated during her application that she intended to go back to China; indeed our plan was always for her to fly to Kazakhstan around April 30th, the original envisaged date of departure. Am I overthinking this, and would the specific country that she'd go to after departing the UK be of no concern to them whatsoever? | would |
One of the most commonly used masks/recommended to protect against COVID-19 is N95. Is there any upside of using N95 masks instead of N99 or N100 to protect against COVID-19? N95 which filter 95% of particulates, while N99 or N100 filter 99% and 99.97%, respectively. For example: Health officials recommend medical staff wear so-called N95 masks because they filter out about 95% of all liquid or airborne particles. The N95 equivalent in Europe is FFP2, the N99/100 equivalent in Europe is FFP3, and the N95 equivalent in South Korea is KF94. Prior research: https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/n95-respirator-mask-coronavirus Infectious disease expert Amesh A. Adalja, MD, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, tells Health that the N95 is still the recommended face mask for health professionals, because it has the capacity to filter out very small particles that could possibly contain the virus. “This is different than a surgical mask, which can only stop larger droplets,” says Dr. Adalja. http://emag.medicalexpo.com/which-masks-actually-protect-against-coronavirus/ In the United States, respirators must meet NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) standards. Within this standard, there are several classes of respirators depending on the degree of oil resistance: Class N: no oil resistance. A distinction is made between N95, N99 and N100. The number after the letter indicates the percentage of filtration of suspended particles https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-face-masks-not-entirely-effective-2020-1 When worn correctly, N95 respirators block out at least 95% of small airborne particles. So the respirators can filter out some droplets carrying coronavirus. The coronavirus itself measures between .05 and 0.2 microns in diameter, according to a recent article in The Lancet. I have cross-posted the question at: Quora Reddit | virus |
My 5 year old cat has a small wound on the back of it's head for a about two weeks. The wound has an approximate length of 1/4 inch (6mm) and does not seem to grow. What worries me, is that the wound is not closing. Normally these close very fast, but this does not seem to close. He does not seem to be in pain and is not scratching the wound often. He is also feeding normally. Because of the current COVID19 Situation it's hard for me to visit a vet. Is there anything I can do? Do I need to visit the vet? | would |
I am currently in a job in the US (on STEM OPT). I had a postdoc offer from a large US university that was supposed to start April 16. I signed an offer letter for a two year contract. We were in the process of deciding which visa to apply for (H1/J1). Today I got an email from the PI (HR copied) saying she would like to put the position on hold until things settle down. I asked for a clarification on what "on hold" meant and whether the offer letter was still valid. The HR replied this (PI copied): As for the offer letter you signed (due to redacted’s current situation) please consider it void until future notice. Professor [redacted] will contact you if you are still being considered for the position. This is the last communication I had with the HR or the PI. What does this mean? Since I have the signed offer, when things do settle down, is the university legally obligated to offer the position back to me before anyone else? Or the university is formally rescinding the offer and I should just move on? Can they do that? EDIT: Some answers have asked about my eligibility to work in the US. For clarification: I’m in the US now, in my current status, I can work in the US till the end of May. If the university applied for an H1B (which is typically approved for non profit), I could stay in the US as long as I didn’t leave the country (in which case I would have to get a visa stamped). Things could have gotten more complicated with J1, so we did not discuss much about that. | would |
If I understand it right, the following steps are to be taken into account: Taking the sample. -for the proposed method more samples would have to be taken. Transporting the sample -more samples would have to be transported. Testing -more material, would have to be tested, but less individual tests would have to be made. So it seems, that 4 sub-questions can to be considdered to help answere. What is the bottle neck in the testign process? Does the amount of material needed to test for COVID-19 scale rather with the number of performed tests, or with the amount of tested material? Does the amount of time needed to test for COVID-19 scale rather with the number of performed tests, or with the amount of tested material? Is the the nucleic acid amplification test still reliable enough, if the Virus RNA to be detected is dilluded among multiple samples? So far I have read a rather general account on how the tests are conducted https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2020/03/18/how-testing-for-covid-19-works.html And I think I have a somewhat crude undersanding of how NAAT works. | virus |
Let's say 15 minutes after a person coughs or sneezes, where does the droplet go? Up in the air and down to the ground? Is it different inside a building? | would |
This question posted recently makes a lot of assumptions, including the US President is currently making a trade-off of human lives for the economy or Trump's pro-economy death-permissive stance during the COVID-19 crisis What are the facts backing this claim? | would |
I have been studying the Feynman path integral and its various derivations, and I've run into a bit of a problem. The standard Feynman path integral appears as follows: $$ \int \mathcal{D}[x(t)]\exp\left(\frac i \hbar \int_0^t d\tau\ \left( \frac m2 \dot{x}(\tau) - V(x(\tau) \right) \right) $$ Where the path integral is defined by passing the following into the continuum limit: $$ \lim_{n \to \infty}\idotsint d^{n-1}x\ \mathcal{N} \exp\left( \frac i \hbar \sum_{j=1}^n \left( \frac m2 \left( \frac{x_{j+1} - x_j}{\Delta t} \right)^2 - V(x_j) \right) \Delta t \right) $$ where $\Delta t = t/n$. In this form, we independently integrate each $x_j$ from $-\infty$ to $+\infty$, and hence there is no innate notion that the paths considered must be continuous; $x_{j+1}$ and $x_j$ can be as far apart as we please. In doing readings, I have found multiple sources that claim that the paths we consider are continuous, for example in this paper. In transforming to imaginary time ($-t \to -i\tau$), this claim makes sense, since discontinuities in the path will blow up the the sum and they will be exponentially suppressed. However, in the form presented above, I am not quite sure where and how we can make this claim. I have seen the argument that paths that deviate greatly from the classical path will lead to extreme oscillatory behavior from our phase, and hence will be suppressed since they will on-average integrate to zero. However, I don't think I am satisfied with this argument to claim we must have continuity. This shows which paths contribute the most, but I don't think it rules out discontinuous paths. Does anyone have insight into this? Any help would be greatly appreciated. | would |
I'm looking for biological datasets with specific properties that are available for me to analyze. Informally put, I have a hammer and I am looking for a nail. That is to say, I have an algorithm and I am looking for suitable data to test if it can tell us anything interesting about biology. Let me start by characterizing the properties that I'd like this data to have. Math Properties The data must be representable as signed directed graphs, which in less formal terms means that I am looking for a network where the connections between the nodes are arrows with a +/- sign associated with them. The signed property of the edges must represent a property of the relation between discrete objects that only takes on one of two values. One way to get signed values from quantitative data would be to use the sign function, keeping only the relations whose sign of the quantitative variable were not equal to zero. Another way is to encode Boolean values, where False is - and True is +. I'd like to further clarify that the data should not only conform to this criteria, but should have instances of both positive and negative paths within the data. The directed property of the edges mean that we care to distinguish 'A relates to B' from 'B relates to A'; order matters. Both, one, or neither of these relations can hold in these networks between any two nodes A and B. Data Properties The data must be analyzable in the sense that I can obtain the data in a form where I can either (1) immediately analyze the data or (2) transform/manipulate the data into a form that I can analyze. As a computer programmer, I'm likely to be able to find packages for (or code for myself) moderately arbitrary transformations as long as they are computable and interpretable. That is to say, in your answer I would like you to not worry too much about whether you have a ready-to-use software solution for analyzing or transforming the data. What I would like considered is whether there is (1) a direct download for a/the datafile(s) or (2) an application programming interface (API) for downloading the data in either pieces or as a whole. Preference will be given to answers that do not cost money, and do not require creating accounts (although either are acceptable). All else being equal, I'd prefer larger datasets (n > 1000) over smaller ones. Preference will also be given to answers where the dataset has additional variables are available on the vertices. For example, if the vertices represent genes, then additional variables on the vertices would mean more data is available that describe those genes. Academic Properties The dataset(s) should be citable. Examples While I'm open to other biological subjects, there are two biological topics that I feel should be representable in the mathematical way I've described above. The first is gene regulation data. The vertices would be genes, and for any two genes A and B we could have any of | would |
Even Donald Trump has praised India on providing the drug Hydroxychloroquine. How has India become the primary source for the drug? | would |
This article shows us that some US institutions rely on very old systems (written decades ago, which is very long in IT time perspective): New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy says that the state is looking for volunteers with skills that can be used to help in the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, and one of those skills is knowing your way around a 61-year-old programming language used on big, old, mainframe computers. COBOL is an old computer programming language that was first developed in the 1950′s in conjunction with the Department of Defense. Today, most programmers prefer and use more modern languages, but there are pockets where old software written in COBOL remains in use, particularly financial applications and in large enterprises or government agencies. I understand that state institutions are typically much slower that private companies when it comes to IT investments, but having such old systems seems strange. Relying on systems written so much time ago incurs lots of issues which translates to wasted time and money: initial developments done way before modern software development frameworks were around us it is much harder to find specialists which know the language, but also are able to adapt to such an old software development style inability to act in a timely fashion when changes or maintenance must be performed (e.g. Coronavirus outbreak) It makes for banks to be reluctant to rewriting their systems due to big costs and risks, since they must also make profit. But a public institution is not profit based and in theory can easier invest in modernizing their software systems. Question: Why did some US institutions not migrate their very old software systems to use somewhat newer ones? Note: I am not thinking about big leaps, but at least to work with languages and frameworks that are at most 20 years old, not 60 years old. While the main arguments are related to software development risks, I am interested in the political aspect of the "why", since we are talking about public institutions making the decision to partially / totally rewrite some systems. Such aspects might be related to the size of projects or quality of management in the public sector. | would |
A big problem with the current COVID-19 epidemic is the difficulty of getting tested (due to mild symptoms and lack of testing kits). This makes it impossible for patients with little or no symptoms to know how likely it is to be infected and further spreading the disease. There are estimations available but only take into account confirmed cases (and range between 10x-1000x of this number). How could one get estimations of the number of patients by using secondary features of the distribution that could be more robust? Age-adjusted death rate under intensive care could be one of several such parameters. | virus |
In this link Mentions Take these steps to monitor your health while you stay home and practice social distancing: Stay home, except to get medical care. Get rest and drink plenty of fluids. ... Get rest and drink plenty of water or clear liquids. Avoid alcohol or drinks with caffeine, such as sodas, tea, and coffee. ... Why? Why to avoid coffee? And what would happen if I drink coffee? What's the worst thing that could happen? | would |
Recently due to COVID-19 outbreak, India prime minister Narendra Modi declared "Janatha Curfew" on March 22 2020 (sunday). Even Indian Railways won't run. How to travel long distance in India during "Janatha Curfew"? | would |
I am a refugee in South Africa with a refugee travel document. I would like to get a Canadian visit visa, what should I do? | would |
Last night I was drying my cat with a towel after shenanigans in the rain and she sneezed! Questions Can cats/dogs/hamsters or other pets catch the cold? How quickly do they recover? | virus |
Back in January, I booked to stay in Hotel Disneyland Santa Fe in March (in Paris). Due to the effect Covid-19 has had in everyday life and travel, Disneyland Paris had to close including the hotels for guests who were not there at the time of the closing down decision. I contacted Booking.com 5 days before my stay at the Hotel and explained the situation and they said they would get back to me in 24 hours. In the meantime, I contacted the hotel and they said that I should only deal with Booking.com as it's their booking to manage. The hotels in Disneyland Paris also announced that for the visitors affected they would offer either a full refund or a chance to reschedule for a later date whilst keeping the same charge for the rooms as the ones in their original booking. Now Booking.com says that since the reservation wasn't cancelled beforehand and they're unable to cancel it after the arrival date has passed, they can only offer me half of the money back. I should note that on my initial phone call with them I wasn't told to cancel the booking or do anything for that matter, as they would have to investigate the best way to resolve this. The booking was made using my credit card, but since it was made in January, I'm now out of the period that I can ask them to step in and withdraw the money and return them back to my account. Is there anything that I can do at this point to make sure I get my money back for a travel that I was not allowed to make considering the hotel was not accepting guests and the French government was cancelling my Eurostar trains at the same time (Eurostar, by the way, has issued a full refund since my trains got cancelled). Alternatively is there any official route to report this behaviour or complain about it? I live in the UK if that's relevant at all. | would |
Let's say one country or a region could take action to contain the corona virus (eg: South Korea, Wuhan China). How could they remain protected while other countries or regions still have the virus? Do they have to stay isolated until no one in the world has the virus? Or if protection can only going to come through newly developed immunity by getting infected, does that mean every one in the world at some point has to get infected until a vaccine is invented? | virus |
In today's press conference (3/19/2020) the President is touting the FDA's approval of using (for example) an anti-malarial as a treatment for COVID-19. This drug has been in widespread use and has been approved by the FDA for years. HOWEVER, the FDA required drug information on this drug does NOT mention COVID-19, so it's use as a pharm for COVID-19 would be considered off-label. Physicians commonly order these off-label applications, however they assume the risk and liability by ordering off-label pharms for their patients. Considering today's assertion that FDA has now approved certain pharms, does it follow that these prescriptions are no longer "off-label", but rather are indicated uses. | would |
I'm trying to create Copper (II) Acetate crystals, but in these times of Coronavirus it's difficult to come by hydrogen peroxide. I could be patient, but I'm not, so I'm trying to make it electrochemically. I have 5% vinegar and lots of copper scrap, and an adjustable power supply. Unfortunately I can't barely get any current going, so I've thought of adding salt, regular NaCl. I'm curious what effect this will have on the final outcome though. Balancing equations is something I struggle with, but I'd really like to learn the chemistry here. Will the salt interfere with or alter the growth of the copper acetate crystals? Ultimately I'm trying to make calcium copper acetate crystals, I've already made the calcium acetate. | would |
According to Reuters news agency, the Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference today (March 11th) that: We are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction. We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic, The same article, however, cites unnamed WHO officials as saying that the term "pandemic" is just a descriptive word and does not carry any legal significance. What significance, if any, does the characterisation that has been made today have? | virus |
Wuhan flu is a very hot topic right now, and I have seen at least two papers and several bloggers attempt to model the $\mathcal{R}_0$ of the disease using the reported data on wikipedia. The problem I have is that most of these approaches use a Guassian likelihood to get point estimates, and while that may be a good approximation, the uncertainty estimates would be more than wrong. Consider for a moment that if there are $x$ reported cases of the flu then there can be more cases we have not seen, but not fewer. The likelihood for any model should respect this property (that our observations can under estimate the true prevalence of the disease at a given time, but can not over estimate it). What would be an appropriate likelihood for this process? I imagine it would almost look like a flipped pareto distirbution. Interested in hearing your thoughts. | virus |
I wrote an email to my professor yesterday to ask makeup exam. But he doesn't reply until now. Test was taken a week ago. But, I can't take it because of family emergency(my grandfather passed away) and sudden move into new room (my hostfamily kicked me out without prior notice.I think the reason is outbreak of covid-19, and I'm Asian). Those are my nightmare! In your opinion, can he admit my makeup test? and why doesn't he reply my email...? | would |